Cisco Systems is releasing an integrated network self-defense system that combines the company's existing wired and wireless intrusion prevention technology with its NAC Appliance and ifirewall technology. The company refers to this combination product as the Cisco Unified Wireless Network.

In addition to providing a defense against such threats as rogue access points and clients, the Secured Wireless Solution provides diverse services, including single sign-on, client validation, integrated firewall services for guest access and a unified management approach. The new secure solution is designed to meet the needs of a variety of government and industry regulations, including HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and PCI.

"What we're announcing is a new architected solution," said Ben Gibson, director of Mobility Solutions Marketing at Cisco, in San Jose, Calif. "Our engineers and designers have tested and validated a wired and wireless solution for security."

"If you are an organization such as health care or retail, there are specific regulations that say you must safeguard data from a wireless device," Gibson said. "A key part of safeguarding that information is ensuring that the network is able to detect rogue access devices or clients that are attempting to tap into this information. In particular, employees tend to bring in consumer-class Wi-Fi access points and plug into the network, which creates a significant security hole. You need to detect the access point and shut it off or mitigate it," he said.